The Sometimes Sisters(5)

“No!” Brook’s hands went to her cheeks. “You’re kiddin’, right?”

“If you want a little paycheck like you got on the horse ranches, you’ll work at whatever needs done around here weekends and in the summer. It’ll probably be either cleaning rooms or else helping in the café, but it’ll be work.”

“But I hate housework,” Brook groaned.

“Think of it as a paycheck.”

Another groan escaped her daughter as she left the bedroom and headed across the hallway to her own new room.

“I hate dishes worse than any other housework,” she called out.

Dana sniffed the air and couldn’t pick up even a whiff of Granny Annie’s trademark floral perfume. She drew in another long breath, but it was all gone. How could that be? There should be a little of it left in the house a couple of days later. She stuck her head inside the closet . . . still nothing.

“Are you about to sneeze or something?” Brook asked from the doorway. “It seems strange to have this much space, Mama.”

“No, I was trying to get a little scent of Granny’s perfume. I guess she stopped wearing it when she got sick,” Dana answered. “You can’t be unpacked this fast.”

“No, but I heard you sniffling and thought maybe you were going to cry again and I can’t let you do that alone. It’s not what daughters do,” Brook said.

“Well, thank you, darlin’, but I think I might be finished with the crying for a few hours.” Dana went to the window and pulled back the curtains. An older-model orange truck sat in front of the cabin closest to the café. A tiny bit of pride shot up and whispered that if that was either Harper’s or Tawny’s vehicle, then the bastard child had done better than either of them. At least she drove a newer-model club-cab truck that didn’t have rust spots around the bottom of the passenger door.

“So what part of the business do you want to run, Mama?” Brook asked.

“The store.”

“With that minnow smell? And having to touch worms?”

Dana nodded. “I’ll do any of the jobs that Uncle Zed gives me, but that’s the one I want.”

“Well, good luck.” Brook went back to her room.

Dana couldn’t see the youngest sister, Tawny, dipping up minnows without gagging. Lord, she might break one of her fancy fingernails stocking shelves. That girl had always been spoiled. She might not even have time to leave her fancy college and come see Zed until summer. And Harper would kill the tiny fish with her breath if she was still throwing back booze like she was the last time Dana saw her. Had to have been five years since she showed up at Granny’s for ten minutes on Christmas Eve.

What are you going to do if your grandmother left the whole caboodle to Zed and Flora? God knows they’ve been loyal to her when you girls didn’t have time to even call. Dana hated it when she could hear her mother’s voice in her head.

“Then I’ll ask them if they’ll hire me,” she said without hesitation.



The call from Zed couldn’t have come at a better time for Tawny Clancy, the youngest of the three sisters. Her mother, Retha, had cut her off financially when she was kicked out of college back in December. She’d managed to keep herself afloat with a job in a coffee shop while she did her community service for drug possession, but picking up trash on the highway and working with the senior citizens on bingo night had ended a week ago. She had enough money to buy gas from Austin to Tyler and a hundred dollars to spare. But that was before she got a flat tire outside Centerville. She hadn’t cried when she had to sleep in her car and wait for a tire repair shop to open the next morning. In fact, she vowed she wouldn’t cry at all, but guilt and grief combined when she parked her car at the resort and realized that Granny wasn’t there anymore. She laid her head on the steering wheel of her fancy little red Camaro and sobbed uncontrollably.

She finally raised her head and checked her makeup in the rearview mirror. Before she could dig her kit out of her purse, Zed opened her door, and the tears started all over again. He opened up his bony arms and flashed a smile laced with sadness. Tawny slid out of the seat and laid her head on his chest.

“Uncle Zed, this isn’t happening. Please tell me I’m dreaming,” she whispered.

“Sorry, darlin’, it’s real.”

“Why didn’t she tell me?”

Zed patted her on the back. “She never was one to worry her girls.”

She took a step back and sniffed the air. “You’re still smokin’ those unfiltered cigarettes, aren’t you? Last time I was here, Granny was fussin’ at you about those things.”

“Man’s got to have a little vice.” He attempted to grin, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He pulled a key with the number seven on it from the bib pocket of his overalls. “I was takin’ a little smoke break before I get food on the table for y’all. It should be ready in about fifteen minutes. This is for you.”

Tawny took it and frowned. “I thought I’d be stayin’ in the house.”

“You girls need your own space. You got all your stuff in that fancy car?”

“Back seat and trunk are full,” she said. “Which one will Harper and Dana stay in?”

“Dana and Brook have the house. Harper is in number twelve. Annie left instructions about where you are all to stay. Drive on up to it, and I’ll help you unload,” Zed said.